Pavel Klimov

When a soul, sinful but talented and longing for epiphany, encounters genuine holiness, a "divine spark" produced by this encounter kindles an unquenchable flame of creativity. For Mikhail Nesterov, "holiness" was a hallmark of the ideas and objects regarded as sacred by every nation: the lands of the forbears, religion, the history and heroes of the country. But, together with his deep "affection for one's hearth and home, affection for one's ancestral tombstones," he equally revered the title of artist, questioning, until his last days, his right to be called one.